Cream Cheese Transforms Burgers Into Breakfast For Dinner

Let's play a quick game of word association. Ready? What's the first thing that comes to mind when you read the words "cream cheese?" If your brain immediately went to bagels, you're probably not alone. However, soon, there may be another unexpected "b" word you start associating with the spreadable dairy product.

Take your cream cheese use from day to night by incorporating it into your next batch of homemade burgers for the ultimate breakfast-for-dinner feast. No, we don't mean by going through the hassle of transforming your cream cheese into a pimento cheese to slather across your buns (though we'll admit that sounds pretty tasty, too). Rather, you can simply spread some cream cheese directly on the burger. As TikToker @auntieamandalee_ reasoned in a video, "Cream cheese is already melted. It's creamy [and] velvety all on its own. Why would we put sliced cheese on a hamburger? This is everything!" 

Some burger lovers have argued that the spread doesn't necessarily need to replace traditional cheese entirely. One Redditor pointed out that cream cheese doesn't exactly have much of a taste to it, so mixing in other cheeses such as feta or cheddar can add both a melty, gooey texture to a burger and a flavor explosion.

Cream cheese doesn't just belong on top of your burger — the breakfast staple also belongs inside your next burger in the style of Minnesota's favorite burger, the juicy Lucy. Keep in mind that the crucial step you need to take before stuffing another burger is to cook certain ingredients, like bacon, before putting them in the patty. 

A dollop of plain cream cheese is just the starting point for this unique culinary escapade, too. As previously mentioned, folding in other types of cheeses like cheddar will provide an extra element of flavor, as will the addition of bacon bits. To really lean into the breakfast-for-dinner theme, you could top your cooked burger with more bacon, cheese, and a fried egg, and sandwich everything between two glazed donuts, or even these homemade 2-ingredient bagels.

If you want to keep breakfast solely for the AM, a stuffing made up of cream cheese, bacon, cheddar cheese, and jalapeños can transform the handheld into a jalapeño popper lover's dream. And being that your burgers also deserve peanut butter, filling your patties with a mixture of PB and strawberry cream cheese could end up being the ultimate flavor mashup that you didn't know you needed.